David Yarrow’s Fantastic Beast photos on view at Holden Luntz Gallery

Thursday

Mar 15, 2018 at 12:01 AMMar 15, 2018 at 3:58 PM

Let David Yarrow describe his 2014 trip to photograph Dinka cattle herders in a remote region of war-ravaged South Sudan.

The journey from the capital city Juba required "…two days on a shocking road, hours of walking in 108 [degree] Fahrenheit heat and wading through 4 feet of water known to house the odd Nile crocodile."

To Yarrow’s way of thinking, the discomfort was well worth it because it yielded Mankind, a panoramic view of the Dinka sprinkled among a forest of long-horned cattle ranged on a flat plain ribboned with smoke.

The photograph sold for $75,000 in May at Sotheby’s in London — three times its high estimate.

It also persuaded photography dealer Holden Luntz to represent Yarrow at his Palm Beach gallery.

"I thought we didn’t need another ethnographic photographer," Luntz said. "When we saw this picture, it sealed the deal."

A version of Mankind is one of the few images of people in Yarrow’s show at Holden Luntz Gallery. Instead, it’s filled with large-scale, up-close and personal black-and-white photographs of wildlife.

What the animals share with the Dinka is that they’re difficult to get to and rarely photographed.

The London-based photographer, who was born into a Scottish shipping dynasty, was a successful sports photographer before family pressure pushed him into a career in finance in the 1980s. Eventually, Yarrow founded a flourishing hedge fund.

David Yarrow has had many close encounters with bears, such this one, which he photographed at Funnel Creek, Alaska, in 2016. Courtesy of Holden Luntz Gallery

Divorce forced him to re-evaluate his life, which he did while traveling to remote corners of the world and photographing what he saw. Around the time he visited the Dinka, he decided pursue fine-art photography full time.

"He has the wherewithal, the conviction and the determination to get to wherever he needs to be," Luntz said. "Whatever he needs to do to get a great picture, he’s going to do it."

Yarrow’s close encounters with wildlife have driven home the importance of protecting them. He’s donated more than $2 million to wildlife charities and conservation groups, most notably the Tusk Trust, a British charity focused on animal conservation in Africa.

David Yarrow dubbed this photograph ‘The Don, Amboseli, Kenya’ to convey the sense of power emanated by this bull elephant with huge tusks. Fewer than 30 "big tusker" elephants survive on Earth. Courtesy of Holden Luntz Gallery

Prince William, Tusk’s royal patron, wrote the forward to Yarrow’s latest book, Wild Encounters, Iconic Photographs of the World’s Vanishing Animals and Cultures, which was named Amazon’s 2016 best arts and photography book.

Yarrow, 52, saw a niche for himself in wildlife photography "because it’s been poorly done," he said.

Blame that on the telephoto lens, he said. He prefers a wide-angle lens.

"Great pictures come where you’re close to the subject," he said.

The charge from a recent rain storm electrified the pelt of a male gelada baboon David Yarrow photographed a few weeks ago in the Simien Mountain range of northern Ethiopia. He dubbed the image ‘Members Only.’ Courtesy of Holden Luntz Gallery

In his photographs lions appear to leap at the viewer. Every line of a "big tusker" elephant’s wrinkled skin is visible.

He was stationed about 20 yards away in a cage when he shot Hairspray, a frontal view of a male lion running. For less dangerous animals, he might set his camera, shielded in a custom-built box, in the dirt, then lie in wait with a remote control.

Photographer David Yarrow was stationed about 20 yards away in a protective cage when he captured ‘Hairspray, Dinokeng, South Africa.’ Courtesy of Holden Luntz Gallery

Watch David Yarrow’s too-close encounter with a bear and her cubs here.

Chance plays a big role in determining success or failure.

When he shot The Untouchables, he was thrilled when a big bull elephant agreeably moved into position to block the sun, creating a dramatic balance of dark and light.

Photographer David Yarrow considers ‘The Untouchables, Amboseli, Kenya’ one of his best shots of 2017. The photo is included in Yarrow’s solo show at Holden Luntz Gallery. Courtesy of Holden Luntz Gallery

He’s ruined more than a few cameras. Elephants trample them, lionesses carry them away. Fortunately, he’s Nikon’s European ambassador.

He typically shoots in black and white. "It’s reductive, interpretive and timeless," he told Billionaire.com.

His expeditions require meticulous planning and extensive research. His memorable photograph of the Dinka, for example, would have been impossible had he not thought to pack a ladder so that he could shoot the flat scene from a high vantage point.

In a world deluged with images, "for a picture to transcend, it’s got to have something," he said. "It’s got to be big."

That’s a tall order, even for him. "I probably take only three or four pictures a year like that," he said.

David Yarrow superimposed an image of a wolf on a photograph of Trump International Hotel and Tower to create ‘It’s Only a Matter of Time.’ Courtesy of Holden Luntz Gallery